"Extreme weather conditions caused many generating units - across fuel types - to trip offline and become unavailable," the company said in a statement, urging energy conservation as the power grid has become more and more strained. Energy use has been at record levels in the state as they, as well as the central US, are facing unusually cold weather.
These rolling blackouts reportedly last anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour.
More than two million homes were reported to be without power in the state on Monday morning, according to poweroutage.us.
The last time rolling outages were implemented in Texas was during a massive storm in February 2011.
Video out of Texas has shown the state blanketed with snow and some roadways dangerously covered in ice. For the first time ever, every county in the state was under a winter storm warning going into Sunday evening.
Road conditions have left many roads impassable and led to numerous crashes, especially on highways. Unlike states that are used to colder weather and heavy snowfall, Texas is facing an unusual emergency as much of the state does not have the resources to handle extreme winter conditions, leaving roads slick and icy, and many homes not insulated enough.
Footage of multiple highway crashes have hit social media with interstate roads either covered in snow or ice. Residents are being urged by local officials to stay home and not travel.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Saturday that he will vote to acquit former President Trump, ending weeks of speculation about what he would do.And Lindsey Graham says he'll meet with Trump to discuss the future of the GOP. Also from The Hill:
McConnell's decision, confirmed to The Hill by a GOP senator, comes hours before the Senate is expected to take a final vote on whether to convict Trump of "high crimes and misdemeanors" over an article accusing him of inciting insurrection during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
McConnell has criticized Trump's role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including saying the former president "provoked" the mob. He disclosed to reporters last month that he hadn't spoken to Trump, with whom he aligned himself closely for years, since Dec. 15.
But he also kept his caucus guessing on how he would ultimately vote, saying that he wanted to listen to the arguments from both House impeachment managers and Trump's legal team.
"Based on his comments over the past two months, I really had no idea what he was going to do," said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of GOP leadership.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Friday that he'll meet with former President Donald Trump to talk about the future of the Republican party and his role in it.Meanwhile the New York Times runs its own mock impeachment trial and finds Trump guilty (shocking!). From RT:
"I'm going to try and convince him that we can't get there without you, but you can't keep the Trump movement going without the GOP united," Graham said, according to Politico.
"If we come back in 2022, then, it's an affirmation of your policies. But if we lose again in 2022, the narrative is going to continue that not only you lost the White House, but the Republican Party is in a bad spot."
Although the Republicans lost the Senate and White House during the 2020 elections, they gained seats in the House. Trump also received the second most votes in a presidential election in U.S. history, even while he trailed Biden significantly in the popular vote and the Electoral College.
Since then, however, Trump's actions contesting the election, culminating in the ugly and deadly mob attack on the Capitol that led to his second impeachment, has raised new questions in GOP circles about moving on from the former president.
At the same time, Trump retains a high level of support in the GOP grassroots.
RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel has talked before about Trump's future in the party saying that the party will keep a neutral stance on the former president as he has caused strife in the party.
"Trump's got to work with everybody," Graham said. "You got to put your best team on the field. If it's about revenge and going after people you don't like, we're going to have a problem. If this is about putting your best team on the field, we've got a decent chance at coming back."
In a decision that will shock few and surprise fewer, the New York Times editorial board has declared Donald Trump guilty. No matter the charges or evidence, the Times has been making this case for four years.Trump's attorney Michael Van der Veen has since been 'interviewed' by MSM, at which point he tore them a new one:
"If you fail to hold him accountable, it can happen again," the Times' editorial board wrote on Friday, in a plea to Republican senators to convict the former president.
"To excuse Mr. Trump's attack on American democracy would invite more such attempts, by him and by other aspiring autocrats," they declared. "The stakes could not be higher. A vote for impunity is an act of complicity."
That the New York Times would call for Trump's conviction is unsurprising. This is the same editorial board that described Trump's re-election campaign as "the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II," demanded lawmakers impeach the president back in 2019, then "Impeach Trump Again" after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol last month, and called for the overhaul of the entire political system to prevent someone like Trump ever coming to power again. In fact, the only decision of Trump's the board praised was his use of missile strikes against Syria in 2018, which it called "reassuring."
Comment: Check out Austin, Texas this week: it's covered in ice!